Electric interlocking circuits.



W. RFOLLETT. ELECTRIC INTERLOGKING CIRCUITS.

APPLIOATIOIY FILED OUT. 19, 1909 1,101,067. Patented June 23, 19m

WITNESSES I i INVENTOR q 5 M-fim a z UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALDO F. FOLLE'IT, OF ORANGE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN'OB. TO THE UNION SWITCH &

SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISSVAIJE, YENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA.

ELECTRIC INTERLOCKING CIRCUITS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 19, 1909. Serial No. 523,517.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatl, WALDO F. FoLLnTr, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the town of Orange, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Interlocking Circuits, of which the following is a specification,

My invention relates to apparatus for the control of railway trafiic controlling devices from a central point, which apparatusis generally known in the art as electric 1nterlocking apparatus.

The accompanying drawing is a diagrammatic view showing one form of apparatus embodying my invention.

Referring to the drawing, C designates a railway traflic controlling device, which, as here shown, is .a railway switch. This switch is operated in reverse directions by an electric motor 151 through the medium of a suitable operating mechanism, which, as here shown, comprises a bar 149- operatively connected with the switch rails, a segmental gear 141 to which the bar 149 is pivotally connected and by means of which the bar is reciprocated, a pinion 147 meshing with gear 141, and an electromagnetic clutch 144 by means of which the pinion is at times operatively connected'with the motor shaft.

.Fixed on the bar 149 are two dogs 44 and 45 which operate circuit controllers 83 and 88. I

The circuits for the motor 151 are controlled by a relay R, which relay, as here shown comprises a magnetizable field 150, a. winding E for the field and an armature 22. The poles of the field 150 act as the poles of a neutral relay for the control of four contacts is f, g, h. The armature 22 is adapted to oscillate through a small arc of a circle. Operatively connected with this armature are four contact members 25, 26, 2'7 and 28,.which members engage with contacts J, K, T, 'U, when the armature 22 is moved from .this middle position to one extreme position, and with contacts J, K, T, U, when the armature 22 is moved to its other extreme position.

The relay R is controlled by a control lever 160, which lever is usually one of a plurality of similar levers comprised in aninterlocking machine. As here shown, this lever is adapted tobe reciprocated longitudinally, but I do not WlSll to 1111111] myself to levers having this particular move-- ment. This lever 160 carries two contact fingers 1 and 18, which fingers engage contacts 161 and 163, respectively, when the lever is in one extreme position of its stroke and cont-acts 162 and 164, respectively, when the lever is in the other extreme position of its stroke. Fixed to the lever 160 are two dogs N, N, which dogs are adapted to engage the hooked end of a latch M, which latch is constrained to movements in a-vertical line by guides which are not shown in thedrawing. This latch M engages one or the other of the dogs N, 'N to prevent movement of the lever 160 to the end of its stroke in either direction, until thelatch M is" raised by the armature L of an electromagnet K. The lever 160 controls two circuit controllers G and H, each of which comprises two contact arms, 143 and 143*, which arms are radially arranged and are .pivot-.

ed to engage with contacts 165 or 166 action. or the other. Similarly, the arms of circuit controllers H are adapted to engage with contacts 167 or 168 according as these" arms are rocked in one" direction or the other. The outer ends of the arms143 and 143 of each'circuit controller are connected ally mounted at their point of intersection.

The arms of circuiticontroller G are adaptby an arc-shaped rod 6, whose center of curvature coincides with the pivotal point of the arms. Fixed to the lever 160 are two arms 7, provided with slots through which pass the arc-shaped rod 6 of controllers G and H, respectively. Each of the rods 6 is provided on each side of the corresponding arm 7, with a coiled spring 142 or 142 The circuit controllers G and H are so arranged that when the lever 160 is moved through a portion of its stroke until stopped by one or the other of the dogs N, N, the arms 143 and 143 are not moved; but during the remainder of the stroke of the lever, after. being released by latch M, the compression of the springs 142 or 142 becomes such that the arms 143 and 143* of both circuit controllers are suddenly shifted to the opposite mains supply operating power to the motor 151 and to the two windings of 'l'clay ll, as hereinafter explained.- In the practice of my invention, one pair of power mains X, Y will generally be used to furnish power for the motors and control relays for a plurality of railway trafiic controlling devices. The magnet K is provided with a circuit which is controlled by oneor the other of two low re sistance relays F and F, in the manner hereinafter explained. The winding of armature 22 of the relay R is energized from the power mains X, Y, the direction of the current in this winding being always the same. Field winding E of this relay is provided with a circuit which is energized from .the power mains X, Y, and is controlled by the contact fingers 1' and 18 of the control lever 160. This circuit for wind ing E is so arranged that the current flows in this winding in one direction or the other, according as contact fingers 1 and 18 engage contacts 161 and 163, or 162 and 164. The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Assume that the parts are in positions shown in the drawing and that it is desired to move the switch G to its other position. The control lever 160 is first moved in the direction indicated by the arrow until it is stopped by the engagement of latch M with dog N. This movement causes contact fingers 1 and 18 to engage respectively with contacts 161 and 163, but it does not cause the contact arms of circuit controllers G I and H to be shifted. Field winding E of relay R is then energized by the following circuit-from power main X through finger 1, contact 161, wire 2, contact 166, arm 143 wire 3, resistance 5, relay F, wires 9 and 13, winding E, wires 12 and 14, relay F, resistance 16, wire 20, arm- 143 contact 168, wire 17, contact 163, finger 18 to power main Y. The current in this circuit is insufficient to cause either relay F or F to close, becauseof the'resistances 5 and 16 and the resistance of winding E. The energization of winding E causes relay R to close armature contacts 0, f, g, h. The closing of contact 6" closes the following circuit through the winding of armature 22-from power main X, through wires 95 and 21, winding of armature 22, contact e-e, wires 8, 10 and 11 to power main Y; Both windings of relay R are now energized and the currents in these windings are in such relative direction that armature 22 causes contact fingers 25, 26, 27 and 28 to engage contactsJ, K, T, and U. Motor 151 is then energized through the following circuit: from power main K, through wires 95 and 29, contact f f, wires 30 and 23, contact J-25, wire 24, field windings of motor 151, wire 75, contact 26K, wire 31, brush l 77, armature of motor 151, brush 78, wire 32, brush 79, winding of clutch 144, brush 80, wires 33 and 81, contacts 82, 83 and 84, wire 85, contact T27, wires 40, 10, and 11 to power main Y. The current in this circuit is in such direction through the motor windings as to cause the motor to operate in the proper direction to reverse the switch C. As soon as the movement of the switch has been completed, contact 83 is reversed by dog 45, thereby opening the motor circuit just traced at contacts 82, 83 and 84, so that the motor then stops.

The circuit hereinbefore traced for the field winding E of relay It includes both low resistance relays F and F, but, as herei'nbefore stated, the current in this circuit was insuflicient to cause these relays to close their contacts. As soon, however, as the movement of the switch C has been completed, contact 83 bridges contacts and 72, thereby closing a low resistance shunt around the portion of the circuit including winding E, relay F and resistance 16. The circuit for relay F is then as before traced as far as and including wire 9, then through wire 41, contacts 70, 83 and 72, wire 74, contact U-28, wire 36, resistance 148, wire 35,. contact gg, wire 11, to power main Y. The resistance of this circuit is such that the current in relay F is suflicient to cause this relay to close its contact 38. The closing of this contact closes a circuit for magnet K, which is the same as that just traced for relay F as far as wire 36, then through wire 2, contact h7z, wire 37, contact 38, wire 39, magnet K, wire 43 to power main Y. Magnet K then raises latch M so that the movement of control lever 160 can be completed; During this completion of the movement of the control lever, circuit controllers G and H are reversed, thereby opening the circuit for field winding E, also the circuits for relay F and magnet K, at points 166 and 168. V

The operation of the apparatus for a movement of the switch 0 in the opposite direction will be apparent from the fore-. going explanation. For such operation, the contacts 25, 26, 27 and 28 of relay R are moved into engagement with contact points j, k, t, and u, thereby closing a circuit through motor 151 to energize this motor in such direction asto move the switch C back to the position in which it is shown in the drawing. After this movement of the switch 1s completed, the low resistance relay F becomes energized, thereby closing a cir cuit for magnet K, which magnet then permits the movement of the lever 160 to be completed. p

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of apparatus embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. 1

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: 1. In combination, a railway traffic controlling device, means for operating said device in reverse directions comprising an electric motor; a single source of current, a relay comprising a field coil and an armature coil, contacts moved by said relay for controlling the-supply of current from said source to the electric motor to cause reverse operations of the motor, means for energizing one coil of the relay in only one direction from the said source of current, a control lever andcontacts operated thereby, and a circuit for the other coil of the relay connected with said source and controlled by said lever contacts, which latter contacts when the lever is moved in reversedirections operate to cause reversals of current in the relay circuit including them, whereby re; verse operations of the relay and consequently of the electric motor and traflic controlling device are accomplished.

I 2. In combination, a railway traflic controlling device, means for operating said cleof the relay connected with said source and controlled by said lever contacts, which latter contact-s when the lever is moved,in reverse directions operate to cause reversals of current in the relay circuit including them, whereby reverse operations of the relay and consequently of the electric motor and trafiic controlling device are accomplished.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribed witnesses.

WALDO F. FOLLETAI. 

